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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

One Final Note From The Game

There's no official word on Conley's status, but don't expect him to be considered a commit for much longer. The question of whether or not he could find himself back in the class eventually is more difficult to answer; his situation isn't the same as David Dawson's or Pharaoh Brown's—Conley was up-front with the coaches about his desire to take visits. We'll have to wait and see if the coaches decide to treat his case differently.

And Now Let's Never Talk About The Game Again

Good? Good.

In-home visits with recruits begin this week, and some very interesting names have emerged as players who will host Michigan coaches, including one we haven't seen in a while:

How bout this for blast from the past? Hearing #Michigan will drop in on Joliet (IL) RB Ty Isaac this week

Yes, that Ty Isaac, one-time top running back target and current USC commit. While there's no indication that he's wavering on his commitment, Lane Kiffin's job security has come under fire—especially in the wake of a derp-tacular finish to the Notre Dame game—and it's worth noting that recruits must approve of a visit before a coach can drop by; Isaac is at least willing to listen to Michigan's latest pitch.

Does that mean anything in regards to VA RB Derrick Green? I doubt it. Green's other presumed top choices, Auburn and Tennessee, have now both fired their head coaches—in Auburn's case, they just cleaned out the entire staff. That leaves Oregon, Miami, and Ole Miss as Michigan's top competition. Oregon doesn't fit Green's stated desire to play in a pro-style offense and Miami has the Nevin Shapiro cloud looming over their program. It's possible Green chooses Ole Miss out of a desire to play in the South, but that's a major step down in program quality compared to Michigan.

[For more planned in-home visits, a wrapup of last weekend's playoff action, and more, hit THE JUMP.]

New O-Line Names Emerge

Michigan is also targeting a couple of committed offensive linemen to fill the hole left by David Dawson. Tremendous caught up with UCLA commit Kenny Lacy, who will get an in-home visit and plans to take an official to Ann Arbor in December. Lacy, at 6'5", 270, could slot in at guard or right tackle—he's a four-star, top-250 type to Rivals and Scout and a three-star on ESPN and 247.

TomVH reported last night that Michigan was in contact with another lineman committed to a California school($), and a little poking around indicates that prospect is Cal pledge Cameron Hunt. Hunt will also get an in-home and, given that the Bears just fired coach Jeff Tedford, could be very open to looking around. He's more of a pure guard at 6'4", 267, and is rated as a four-star on every service save 247.

Cass Tech Goes Back-To-Back

For the second straight year, Cass Tech upended Detroit Catholic Central in the MHSAA Division I state title game; this time around, the Technicians won 36-21, and Jourdan Lewis opened the scoring with an 89-yard touchdown catch on CT's first play from scrimmage. Lewis would finish the game with two catches for 101 yards, while junior standout Damon Webb caught two passes for 53 yards, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, and had an interception. Wyatt Shallman finished with five tackles and 0.5 TFLs for Catholic Central and was limited to just six yards on three carries.

In the OHSAA Division II state semifinals, Mike McCrayrecorded a team-high 11 tackles and recovered a fumble to lead Trotwood-Madison to a 33-32 victory over New Albany. The Rams will take on Toledo Central Catholic, led by OSU commit Jayme Thompson and 2014 QB prospect DeShone Kizer, in the state title game on Friday.

Three other Michigan commits advanced in the playoffs: St. Clairsville's defense, led by Michael Ferns, held defending champs Norwayne—averaging over 50 points per game heading into the state semifinals—to 27 points, advancing to the Division IV title game and preserving an undefeated season. Channing Stribling's Matthews Butler squad will play for its third state championship in four years after taking down Mallard Creek in the semis, 27-0. Patrick Kulger and North Allegheny defeated Woodland Hills, 21-14, to become the first team to win three straight WPIAL Class AAAA titles; they're two games away from a second state title in three years.

2014 FL WR Artavis Scott told Sam Webb that he and HS teammate OL Mason Cole "know for a fact" that they'll attend the same college ($, info in header). That's good news for Michigan, which emerged among Cole's early leaders and has also offered Scott—both prospects were on hand for the Michigan State game.

Standout 2015 KY RB Damien Harris has Ohio State and Michigan essentially running even atop his leaderboard after visiting Columbus last weekend, according to Allen Trieu ($, info in header). Michigan may hold a narrow edge, but it's a close race at this point (obviously, with a very long way to go).

Not sure I'd write Auburn or Tennessee off, especially if they hire big name coaches. I hate recruit psychoanalysis, but it does seem like he's very much looking for a reason to go somewhere other than Michigan.

Yeah, TomVH touched on the coaching situations in Tenn and Auburn during his recruiting chat. They may make it more difficult if either makes a splash with big name hire. A big name coach will probably do more harm then good in either of those locations.

One of the respected posters there did speculate it may have been to get him away from M: have him visit, force decommit, have UofM fill the spot, then tell Conley no thanks (or at least hold off and see if their other higher priority targets fall through).

I'm hoping Hoke would see through that and let him come back to good guys. But given this is all speculation, the real story could be and likely is something completely different.

Everybody raves about his technique and athletecism, and says just needs to gain a little inevitable weight. I'll take that over a big kid that needs to learn technique, and gain athletecism any day. Its no wonder the coaches are visiting him when his pad level, proper leverage, footwork, punch, and use of hands, speed, pass protection against all types of edge rushes, drive blocking, downfield blocking, finishing, and nasty streak are all basically at a college level. Sounds like Kugler all over again. Only criticism of him I heard was when he went to the Opening he had more difficulty with the jumbo sized recruits. Won't be a problem after a redshirt year.

I know this is a fluff piece but analysts outside the Cal guys have all been saying the same things:

Yeah, we're in a position where we don't need the 5th OL in this class to play all that quickly, so a guy like Hunt who needs a couple years or bulk up is no problem.

And it's not like he needs a ton of weight. He's currently listed at 267 by Rivals, so he should be 275-280 by the time he enrolls, and could be knocking on the door of 300 after his redshirt year, somewhat conservatively. If the 267 number is a little old, he could be 275+ already.

EDIT: 247 lists Hunt at 275, so it's very possible the 267 number is pretty old, and he's not all that undersized anymore.

Gotta wonder more about how D. Smith feels about this. I look at these backs as more of his niche rather than Shallman who will have a role because of his size. If they are looking for 2 more backs maybe there's something to be said about the stable that is the program right now. Certainly could spread 4 backs out with redshirting.

On another note, caught the D1 finals. Jordan Lewis is a heck of a player but you don't see the "wow" when he's on defense. CC got him a number of times. Standout on offense in this game however. First time I've watched Shallman in person in a long time. He is quick-twitch big time, and agile. A littel bit of coaching and grooming and Michigan will have a good player no matter where they put him. Both of these players will be great additions. Dawson - I would say was good but not dominant. Spent a fair amount of time jaw-boning and it looked like Wilcher had to get in his grill about it on a few occaisions.

Michigan has been pursuing Ty Isaac and Derrick Green while DeVeon Smith has been committed. It's really not anything new for Smith. If Michigan got both Isaac and Green to commit (which isn't going to happen), then I think Smith might reconsider. But if just one of those guys commits, then I think that's probably within the range of reasonable expectations.

Re: OKL. Yeah, but for Treadwell, was that when U of M was barely throwing to Gallon and Roundtree or more recently with Gardner at QB when those two seem to be getting many more chances. And with Roy leaving and Gardner looking like he will be here for two more years, it seems that U of M presents a very good opportunity for a 5 star WR, no?

I have lost track after all this time since it has been mentioned, but Ace used to say how many scholarship slots were open and I have not seen it stated for awhile. So are we still sitting at about 3 spots left barring any unforeseen attrition?

Lacy or Hunt are very solid candidates based on their film. My OL evaluation skills are limited (ie defensive coach) but both appear to have upside with their frames and decent agility. Cal and UCLA also tend to focus on solid students given their academics. OL pipeline in fine shape.

I see the biggest bonus in landing more kids nationally. We used to land talent from all areas to supplement the Midwest base and Hoke's Cali connection has yielded only Magnuson.

Please, please don't neg bomb me into oblivion for this. Please. I did a quick search of the site and didn't see any mention of Logan Tuley-Tillman having interest in TCU, good or bad. A scout alert dated 11/16/12 mentions interest and a possible visit. Alert is paywalled, and I don't pay. So, can anyone, nicely, update me on the validity or lack of validity to this claim? Again, please and thank you. Link below:

Hearing about the 26-21heartbreak loss for Pickerington North stabbed an already open wound.

Just as Christian came up to the Cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, fell from off his back, and began to tumble down the hill, and so it continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre. There it fell in, and I saw it no more.

Experience it in person. Jake Butt had huge catch to keep final drive going. Team was crushed that the wildcat play didn't work at the end. Ticket takers thought I was at the wrong gate with family's maize/blue and block M gear. Losing 26-21 twice in a day...argh

Strange to have a kid already declare a package deal - especially when both are very highly rated and merit offers on their own (unlike Nkemdiche pulling along 2 stars). Probably just a BFF type comment but it presents some quirky dynamics.

Do coaches schedule all visits jointly or CC both on texts or send mail to 1 address? I hope UM can land both but 2 Floridians is a tough pull.

Just curious, what "big name" coaches are currently out there for these teams to hire? (And please don't say John Gruden) I seriously can't think of any big name/hot commodity that would be big enough to lure a potential recruit. Sure, there is probably a mid-level guy that would make the jump up to a BCS-level school (Louisiana Tech coach comes to mind) but who else? Tressel has a show cause. Petrino still has some baggage.

These aren't big names by all means, but Narduzzi might be looking to get out of EL. Fickel might want to capitalize on the 12-0 season.

Not to mention all of the guys coming from the NFL - either coordinators looking for an upgrade like Bill O'Brien was, or a recently fired HC like Jim Mora Jr. was. Those guys are always popular choices.

But is Gus Malzahn a "big name" outside of spread-nick's? Is he a name that makes recruits go "oooohhhhh."? If he was such a hot name, wouldn't he be at a better job now? Good coach, but I don't see the sizzle. And in this case is an expert at the kind of offense he doesn't want to be in.

Agree that Gus or Charlie shouldn't sway Green. Not only would the speed spread de-emphasize his power, but the UT and AU lines struggled with pro style this year and would be adapting again next year to a new scheme.

Not that our OL is a recruiting edge, but Hoke at least professes a goal of Manball with recruits to match.